the feat
by dearbluebrid
Summary: It has been two years since any member of konoha 12 have been in contact. But with one member dead, Nartuo's friendships will be tested, especially with the fact that this member is Sasuke Uchiha, and he is not dead; he is a ghost from beyond the grave that can be seen by only Naruto's eyes. Will an absence of two years and a dead friend bring back what once was?
1. Prologue

Hey guys! My first fanfic thing. Whooo hoo! Im joining the team! After all who's not an inspiring writer these days? Anyway, if you're looking for a two pair romance, or a simple protagonist antagonist structure, this isn't your forte. It's about the emotional life of the smoking hot Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki with a group of friends. AU thing going on, taking place in a small cute countryside in the 1960's. Nothing much to say, except, I don't own Naruto, and have fun and review!

_**Prologue – The end.**_

_**xxxxx**_

* * *

In my ninth grade science class, our science teacher Kakashi told us about the astrological process of the birth of stars. Since that day I had never forgotten that the feat of those stars take billions of years to be born, and is yet only a single star of the many of the billions of other stars that had already existed prior to our human era. It takes billions of years for a star to be born, and disappears into a sucking bang called the supernova.

It was strangely the only thing I remembered back in our junior days. It was the summer leaving sophomore, and Sasuke birthday had passed almost a month ago.

Sasuke's brother had also told us that there are enough stars in the world to represent all those who had died, and that he would become a star when he eventually passed, watching over us like a guardian star. He was known as a wonderful scholar, and I knew that Sasuke wanted to surpass his genius talent someday. They did after all, come from a talented line of the Uchiha.

It's quite intriguing, having someone promise to look over you after their deaths, and quite a shame really, how those fancies stay that way.

I met Sasuke when we were just kids. He would disappear often without a trace whenever he felt defeated. He was a major drama king.

When we first met, Sasuke claimed his ways into being a vegan at ten years old. My mother had invited him for lunch, and all we had to eat was chicken barbeque and noodles.

He was one of those hippies types.

_Clank._

"Would you eat a dog?" he asked hitting a metal can on the street with an old tree branch.

"No, why would I eat a dog?"

"Why would you eat a chicken?"

"Chicken is food, honestly if you don't want it, I can have it…"

"So dog isn't food?"

I shook my head, eyeing his plate.

"Who said?" He questioned.

"Honestly Sass, I don't know, I don't care. Can I just have…"

"You're a hypocrite." The ten year old boy said smirking.

He ended up giving me his share of chicken barbeque, what a nice kid my Saskay was.

You know, I doubt Sasuke planned on being this way.

Seventeen years ago, my father never planned on dying when the gave birth to me in the town of the Leaf.

He didn't plan on giving me such burdens.

He also did not plan giving me Sasuke as a friend.

Actually, seventeen years later, when he and I stopped being friends at age fifteen, on August twenty-sixth Sasuke died.

It's odd, yes, to begin the story with the end. But sometimes (well, all of the time) our lives begin when something else ends.

Very little people came to pay respects to Sasuke, because he was not very popular. But a few of us were there. That was all that mattered.

That same evening, however when I came to visit Sasuke's grave, I had thought of two options as I looked into a pair of familiar dark eyes; Sasuke was not really dead, or I was in hell.

Sasuke did not consider me as a friend at the time, and I refused too even when he died.

He was my arch enemy.

My nemisis.

Living sin.

And it was he and I, the ying versus the yang, staring down at each other face to face.

I had thought that perhaps these things I was seeing were already the illusions of hell, and it was all part of my torture for being such a disobedient child.

He was standing on the ground. How the hell can a dead boy stand on the ground?

"Hn, Naruto."

Crap.


	2. 1 Reunion

AHHHHH! So as soon as I posted the prologue a few hours ago and a lot of you have been coming in and reading. It really makes me happy to see that people read my stuff, so hopefully you all will like it! This chapter is longer than the last one, and has around 2,000 words. This entire thing has arund 20,000 words, and will compose of 7-8 chapters, depending on my mood for an epilogue.

Oh, and Sasuke (in his ghost form) is wearing a cute white dress shirt with suspenders and a black bow tie. His clothing doesn't change because he is dead. Please drop a comment or review!

Naruto is not mine, and this will apply to all chapters so I won't have to write it over and over again.

Chapter 1.

Reunion

I'll save you a bit of trouble by giving you a small briefing of Sasuke's life.

He lived closest to the Leaf's waterfalls, with his brother Itatchi who had long black hair tied low, and they lived in something of a scrapped together trailer home.

His mother and father were not at home at the time of Sasuke's death, and were not home since July 23rd, on his tenth birthday.

What a horrific story, I know.

But whenever I asked Sasuke if he was ever lonely of sad, he seemed quite content with living with Itatchi.

Actually, he loved it.

Sasuke however, is dead. So Itatchi would be the last one to inherit the large piece of land and fortune their entire family left behind. Imagine this; rolling hills stretching out into an expanse of willow tree's swaying in the distance. It was truly beautiful, and at the same time gives me nostalgic chills.

In the Leaf, the town we lived in, it was sunny constantly, and every time on my way home from the market, I saw Itatchi and Sasuke sitting in Big Will's branches. Will was something of an outcast tree; the one Itatchi grew up with when he was a kid as well.

He was an odd tree; an outcast known as the Black Willow away from the others.

Itatchi told me that it reminded him of the Java Willow in Sri Lanka, when a friend of his mailed him a photo. I was solely Will grew near a tiny water fall and whose incredibly thick and contorted branches grew at an odd angle dangling over the cliff.

It was not a large cliff, but it dangled almost twelve meters off the edge of a two feet deep creek of fast moving water.

Big Will was living next to the hippie vegans for as long as my mother said she could remember.

I guess nobody will have Big now that Itatchi is getting old and dying. Remember Will, he's important.

Naruto Uzumaki is also very important in the story. He was Sasuke's rival.

Like blue skies against the night.

Blond hair clashed with the dark.

The tanned fighting the pale.

The ying versus the yang.

And he happened to be the only person who knew Sasuke was alive.

And my name is Naruto Uzumaki.

When Sasuke confirmed that he was in fact, the living dead, I remember the first thing I began to do was laugh hysterically.

"This is great!"

"How so?" He smirked.

"You're immortal!"

"Shut up." Sasuke said. He groaned and shoveed his hands in his pockets, heading towards the main road.

"Oh Kami, Sassk you're way to boring for your age." I remember myself saying; when in fact that was not true. Looking back, Sasuke was just way more mature than a regular seventeen year old should be.

Truth was, I envied him.

I didn't lose my parents to brutal murders.

I didn't have cancer, or any siblings who died in tragic accidents.

I was not beaten by my father, or cruelly abused by my mother.

Who would want those things? No one.

But that made Sasuke strong, and at the same time, it was like I was weak.

So Kami, was so special about me? Nothing.

That was it.

_Nothing. _

"Hn, let's move." I remember him saying.

There once was a time, when Sasuke and I were best friends; when we were young.

Best friends for life. _Whatever. _It was a time when life felt like a beautiful place, too beautiful to hate even for a second. That was before Sasuke became a vegan, and more importantly the time before one of our closes friend Hinata did not become disabled. It was before the time when things were still new to a young boy's eye, and everything is more beautiful than it actually is.

"We're headed to them." He said, when I asked him. To Sakura and Hinata was what he meant.

"They'll be at the Willows." He added oddly. It was unusual for the Teme to talk this much, and I knew it was because we meant something to him.

Though, Sasuke had a British accent, and "willows" sounded more like "Wee-lows".

The "Wee-lows" was the spray of trees that was famous in our small town. It was a forest filled with the tallest trees I've seen. The town calls it the Willows because most of the trees were just those; from black willows, to Weeping Willows, and even Peking ones.

We named our clubhouse the Willows. It was a small shack built a long time ago.

To put it into simpler terms, just imagine a large square with a cross shaped path that runs through it. The main road ran vertically and separated Will, which was on the west side, from the forest of the Willows on the east side. Other smaller streets branched off from this road, and the larger horizontal road was called the Sand Road.

The Weeping's, however, was something different. It was a small area our entire town knew about.

They were forbidden, especially to the young. The Weeping's were banished.

Nobody knew what they were, and if you knew, you would probably be dead.

That's how secret it was.

It was even more secret than the Konoha government.

"I can't believe this is happening." I battered on. "Seriously Sass cakes, this is just scary."

He strays further away from me, increasing his pace.

He has no interest with my psychotic wondering.

I was too emotional for him.

"I don't care about your precious feelings," He said bluntly. "Although I know I must pretend to, because of my involvement in this particular predicament."

"So you don't care about my emotional suffering?"

"Hn, nope."

"Why you… little sadist."

You're not the only one suffering here, he says after a while.

But blah blah blah blah blah …

_We_ were not the only ones suffering.

The clubhouse in the leaf (that we had always hung out) in was in beat up shape. It was there before Sakura's older brother Kaito was born, and that was nearly twenty-nine years ago.

"My brother was here when he was a kid." I remember Sakura saying.

Lucky girl had two older brothers, but when they turned near thirty, they pack up, left town and stopped seeing Sakura.

It was like they vanished into thin air.

When we arrived in the club house, Sakura and Hinata were already there. We had not expected them to be there, but it was in our best convenience that they were.

"Are you expecting us to believe that?" Sakura yelled.

I shook my head.

My vision shifted, looking around the small club house. It felt as if we had not been together for hundreds of years, when in fact, it was only two years ago since our group split up.

Truth was I was the antagonist in the story. Well, if you told this story through the eyes of a metempirical Saukra Haruno and Hinata Hyuga.

"No it's the truth, and you're forced to believe it!"

"Then …bring Sauke here and tell him to prove It." she replied, as a-matter-of-factly. "Show us that Sasuke's alive, then we'll believe you."

From my view, at this time, it was much easier to prove something I knew, rather something others did not. This totally went against what my overly emotional science teacher; Kakashi, had told us last year.

"You can't expect people to understand, just because you do." he said. That was the whole "look into someone else's shoes before you speak" line that taught us freshman's how to learn basic people skills.

"It's part of life." he said.

It was such cliché poetic bullshit. Although, it was entirely true.

"Baka." I heard Sasuke mutter. "We have already deciphered that no one besides you can see me."

I glared at him, his face portraying stone cold emotions.

Why couldn't he just let me defend him?

Right then, I made a very large- no large is too weak of a word. What's a stronger verb for large?

"_Massive."_

I made a massive mistake, by telling Sasuke to "Shut up."

But to Sakura and Hinata, it seemed as if I was talking to Sasuke in a disrespectful way. Then of course, I turn into a lunatic. Perfect.

"Did you just tell a dead person to shut up?" Sakura asked.

"Just because he's dead doesn't mean it's any excuse for rudeness!"

As soon as those words flew out of my mouth, I knew I was going to get it from Sakura. Hinata was already giving me the pitied look, but I knew inside she was furious with me.

Hinata was the youngest, and was the best listener. She was sitting in her purple lounging chair, and did not open her eyes when we spoke to her, because she was blind; Although she would occasionally creak open her eyelids and reveal silver iris', something in which I found …captivating.

Two summers ago, she had nearly fallen near the cliff beside Big Will. She fractured her leg, because she was not able to see where she was walking. She still walks with a bit of a limp today, although none of it mattered because Hinata… well, she was perfect. Not physically, but inside of course.

Luckily she didn't fall in too deeply, or she would have died. That was what Miss Kureni, her teacher had told me. She had to lie in bed for a long time, listening to people out in the streets talk about her like she was deaf_. Those idiots. _

"W-Why would you spend the rest of the summer pretending that Sasuke is alive?" Hinata asked.

"He's not dead, and I'm not pretending." I said.

Sakura stepped in, trying to quiet the constant battering.

"Listen." She said with green eyes hard and glossy. "Sasuke is dead. Kami, he's gone. He died yesterday." I remember her saying. And she said the word dead almost a million times. I hated the way Sakura talked to me, like I was some sort of idiot. She spoke so simple, so soft; and only to me, because to her, I was some sort of an idiot.

"Sasuke _was_ dead, and is not gone. He needs to get to heaven, or hell. Where ever the fuck this kid is supposed to go, I need someone to believe me so we can help him."

I remembered Sasuke's face, turning his head towards the door trying to look uninterested. But there was a small glint in his eyes- it was so brief, I could have missed it, but that look, it was as if he was shocked to see that someone cares for him even after death.

I snickered a bit, something I probably shouldn't have done, because that evening, I remember leaving with a bruised face, and leaving Sakura with a sore cheek.

Though, that evening I felt no relief for slapping Sakura. It felt empty. Hitting Sakura did not solve anything. Amazing how the human body works in reaction to emotions. What a petty little thing feelings were; so fragile, so frail, _so breakable_. Everything around me was not like it used to be. It seemed as if my surroundings were just a complete daze, and like everything that had happened the last few hours was just a bad dream. And in dreams, nothing matters because it feels as if it doesn't exist. And I stand, looking at Sasuke (who for once needs my help) with an empty heart and vacant stare, feeling and thinking things way to dark for an average mind.

With no words of comfort, I had told Sasuke that his soul would abscond into a playful dance of dust particles in the wind, which would make his ghost, vanish into thin air. I remember placing my sympathetic hand on his shoulder and patted his back in soothing, comforting circles that would somehow ease him.

I sucked up my tears and assured him, everything was going to be fine, but I, I myself will never be sure if it ever will.

AWWWWWWW poor Naruto!

I'll be updating soon, tomorrow possibly so on that note:

REVIEW READ REVIEW READ FOLLOW REVIEW REVIEW READ READ READ


	3. 2 Ethical Deaths

__I'm back again! Okay so today's my first day of senior year and I finally get to feel superior for once. If anyone talks bad about this senior, they will get slayed! Ahah kidding. Anyway, this chapter gets into the emotional part of Sasuke's death, including a lot of memories and nostalgia. When you read Naruto's flashback with his mother... you will cry. *UUGGGH* that's all I have to say.

This chapters about 1,000 words, so it's shorter than the last. So anyway, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

disclaimer

**_Chapter 2_**

**_Ethical Deaths._**

* * *

After coming home from the battle with Hinata and Sakura, Sasuke followed me home. Where else was he supposed to go anyway? My mother was in the front, tending to her garden like she had every day.

Sasuke didn't know very much about my parents. He was too busy in his own affairs.

_Cling cling cling._

The chimes on my front door opened as I let him in. I think I was pretty angry at them time, but I can't particularly remember why. Perhaps, I thought, it had already existed inside me, or perhaps it grew when Sasuke came back to life, but whatever it was, it created a cold Naruto.

Can you imagine? Naruto? _Angry?_

He walked inside, looking around curiously. It seemed as if Sasuke was interested in looking at things that gradually change. He was more of a stationary kid, so when his surroundings changed, he wanted to know. He needed to live, to breath, to recognize it.

"Your father?" He asked picking up a photo.

I nodded. I told Sasuke that day, the truth about my father. He never really knew, because he never asked.

"He died when I was a few months old." I remember saying.

I was expecting Sasuke to feel bad for me.

But how could he? How can someone who is already broken feel more broken?

His expression was unreadable.

"How come you're alive?" I asked after a long silence between us.

He stayed silent uncaring.

"And you're here living some voodoo Satan granted life." I said "Why is it that because my dad was a good person, he doesn't get the chance to live a second life with his family? While you're here, clearly with no good intentions, living one that should have been my dad's?"

But then, how was that ethical? To be living a second life unwanted, when there are plenty of dead people who do?

Sasuke then had a questioned look on his face, something that I had never seen before.

I figured later, that it was Sasuke showing emotion.

It was his guilt face.

And Sasuke never felt guilty. I was suffering a bit too; not as much as Sasuke, but I had my share with my parents. I looked up to see Sasuke crossing his arms, with his eyes closed. For a second I closed my eyes too, just to remember my father, but it was pretty hard to do it without crying.

* * *

Once when I was a child, my mother had a night blooming cereus. Loads of moths came, because they were the ones that pollinated it.

I saw it bloom once in July.

It is the one night the cereus blooms, when the moon shines and before the sun rises. It's fed by the energy of the sun, and reveals itself to the moon. How, heavily ironic I found that to be.

"You know Naruto, this flower is very precious to you. It bloomed once on your birth." I remember her saying. "It resembles you."

"How?"

She laughs. What a humble one at that. She pets my hair, long fingers combing through my scalp. I can still remember that feeling.

"How lucky I am to be your mother. I'm so glad to be your mother!"

"And I'm glad to be your son!" I said. She gives a heartily smile.

She laughed. "My sun."

"And you're my moon!" We laughed a bit at the slight alliteration, and then things got pretty quiet.

"Sad really." She says. "The flower insists on feeding from the sunlight, and yet it saves its beauty for the moon. The sun does not see what it fathers."

I looked down on to the drooping cereus. That's right; I did not have a father.

* * *

"Cry baby." He said, as if it was a joke. I snapped out of my wondering and looked up at Sasuke.

I glared back at him. How could he something so heartless? Although I knew that Sasuke cared very little about me, let alone anyone's pretty little emotions, he was human too, so he felt emotions just as much as I did.

"Atleast you remembered your father." I said.

"So?" He replied.

"What do you mean "so"?"

Sasuke gave me one of his smirks, and uncrossed his arms.

"Why are you using your dead father as an excuse for everything difficult?"

"I don't."

"That's a fucking lie."

"No it's not."

"It's as if every time I share a sob story, you come in and act as if it's some sort of sob-story-contest, bringing in your father like a weapon."

"Because people need to understand what true sadness is."

"That's poetical bull crap."

"No it's not." I argued.

"You're using your dead dad to your advantage."

I laugh, no I wasn't.

"Are you really comparing our lives?" Sasuke says to me.

I was trying to. Yes, I was. But only because I needed Sasuke to see that there were not that many differences between us. The raven haired demon was furious when I nodded.

Then when Sasuke left my home, I felt like a total bastard.

* * *

********** (Flash Back)

"SAAAAAASSSAAKAY! Let's play I spy!"

"No."

"How about metaphysical I spy?"

"Hn, No."

"I spy with my little eye, something I like!"

"Ball sack."

"TEME!"

"I know! The feel of ball sack?"

"Oh my God Kiba shut up."

Choji laughed from afar and added "The taste of it?"

"The texture of ball sack?" Sasuke added.

"How about the smell of ball sack?"

"Kiba if you Choji and Sasuke say ball sacks again, I'll end your life."

"Ball sack."

Isn't it weird how fast we grow up? Sixteen years. I've been alive for sixteen years. And I thought waiting for the timer on the microwave was long.

* * *

Once when we were kids, and the four of us had all gotten along, we invoked on an adventure to the boardwalk, where in the summer, opened a carnival and a circus.

The carnival was called Konohagakure's Theme Park, with a circus that came every summer. Senju's Circus, I think it was called. It was named after the man who fought for our town, and there was a whole entire celebration for him in the summer.

That summer night of the celebration, when I was twelve, we snuck into one of the freak shows.

It's a horrendous place to be, I remember Hinata saying. She was such an innocent soul. Yet, she was right. They had people sit in cages sometimes, to exhibit, and that itself was a cruel, cruel life to live. Senju's circus had everything from overweight women, to men with long beards.

Actually in that time, when medicine was primal, an eighth year old man was exhibited because he was blue. He was normal at first, but when he got sick for something, the doctor prescribed him to drink silver nitrate mixed with water. He ended up drinking too much because of his desperation to be normal.

When the four of us had thought we finished staring at the freaks, there was one man that I would never forget. Many people around us "OooO-ed" and "Ahh-ed". Most of the time, people just laughed and threw garbage at him.

He had no limbs.

Itatchi forbids us to look at the circus freaks, but we did so anyway. And when we told Itatchi about the man with no limbs, and that perhaps he was banished by an evil witch, he slapped Sasuke really hard.

Don't ever think of people that way, he said.


	4. 3 Confrontation

Hello my lovlies, im back again with a new chapter. I see tons of you coming in and reading, but i'd appreciate if you'd review atleast! Anything! I'm treating you with a wonderful guest appearance today... ready?...DUN DUN DUNNNNN *Welcom to the Feat, Itatchi!*

Yup, he'll be showing up in this chapter, and some flash backs will be up as well.

SEE YA TOMORROW!

READ REVIEW READ READ READ REVIEW

_**Chapter 3 Confrontation**_

* * *

It was two hours later, that I remembered; when the sun was just about to hide itself from its existence, I decided to look outside and glance at the countryside scenery.

There was Sasuke, sitting on my porch, simply staring. I think he was there since I he walked out on me while I was daydreaming nostalgic memories.

I'm here because I have nowhere else to go. He said to me.

Thinking of the circus a few hours prior, a vile thought hit my head.

"Let's go to the circus." I announced, maybe a bit too loudly.

Sasuke gave me a stare and frowned.

"With me and Hinata-chan!" I said, remembering how I had promised to take her.

"Hn." He replied. "No."

I smiled sweetly, hopefully able to sway him.

"I will find my own way to heaven." Sasuke said. "Or hell." He added, getting up and walking away.

_Please! Please please please please please!_

When my pestering became obnoxious, Sasuke began to storm away.

"Okay, okay Teme!" I said chasing after him.

"Let's make a deal."

I watched him stop in his tracks, his raven hair fluttering in the breeze as he turned his head. We negotiated that we both would try our ideas to help him get back to…where ever he belonged. We would take turns with our ideas, one after the other.

"Like trial and error."

"Exactly teme!"

"Hn, I go first then."

"What!? No!"

"Fine." Sasuke began to walk casually away again.

"WAIT." I yelled. "Let's flip a coin!"

I bet on tails.

Sasuke bets on heads.

"Aa, heads it is." Sasuke smirks, and there is a whole shit load of swearing coming from my classy mouth.

So what did Sasuke, the great Uchiha wanted to try? I thought that perhaps, Sasuke would summon the devil and do some sort of demonic exorcism thing.

I pictured it all.

It would start with Teme wearing a pointed white hood, with myself lying on a guillotine. Sasuke would say "Heads or tails?" I would bet heads, it would land on tails and Sauske would use my dead body as a deal with the devil to exchange his soul back to life.

Are you picturing it?

Something only the almighty Uchiha would do right?

Wrong.

He wanted to go to his brother Itatchi.

Sasuke and his brother lived in a trailer home next to Big Will and the falls. It was a bit of an isolated home, peculiarly perched next to the side of the cliff.

"Want to know a secret?" I recall asking Sasuke on our way there.

Vegan boy eyed me.

"Remember no hands man?"

He nodded.

"He lives down there." I pointed to another smaller home located a few miles away.

* * *

Last summer, Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura and I had decided to sneak a peek at him, because Ino and Kiba were spreading rumors that he lived with a witch woman who was recently seen visiting him every day. They were right.

A hint of nostalgia hit Sasuke and I, but we brushed it off, like it was nothing.

When we arrived at Sasuke's home, his brother Itatchi was tending to a night blooming cereus. He was a bit of a gardener, and was good friends with my godfather, who had died a few weeks prior to Sasuke's.

"Naruto-san," Itatchi greeted. "Hello."

Sasuke trailed behind as we entered his home. His hands were stuffed in his ghost pockets, looking straight at Itatchi, searching for something.

I turned around, giving Sasuke a hearty glare.

"What do I do?" I mouthed.

He met my gaze. "Face him." Sasuke breathed. "I expect him to say something about my death. Speak to him about it."

"So." Itatchi began. "What brings you here?"

"I'm here to bring my condolences to you." I said leaning against the kitchen door.

Itatchi began to prepare tea. He stayed silent for most of the time, until he finished brewing the tea.

"Sit." He said motioning for a short rounded table.

I uttered my way towards the table and held a cup of jasmine tea. Sasuke sat next to me, giving Itatchi another gaze.

"It's been long Naruto." He said. "My brother and you stopped being acquaintances two years prior, what makes you suddenly concerned about him? Is it because he is dead he is more important to you now?"

I heard Sasuke sigh, or perhaps it was him breathing a little more loudly than usual.

"Tell him." Sasuke demanded.

Itatchi looked down to his tea, and I mouthed a "how?" to Sasuke while he was not looking.

Itatchi's glare came up again and stared at me with questioning eyes.

"I still feel Sasuke.. Here." I said. "With us." I added.

"And, sometimes I feel scared. Maybe worried even, that Sasuke hasn't exactly passed yet."

Itatchi nodded. "I'm not into that ghost crap." I added, giving him a small smile.

"But, perhaps theres some secret that needs to be said in order to free Sasuke's soul. I know-"

Itachi let out a loud breath.

" There is one secret." He said. "It must be best to tell someone, because I had been meaning to tell Sasuke, but never gotten the chance to."

"And I trust you Naruto-san for caring for my brother; you along with Huruno-san and the Huyga heiress, as well."

Sasuke's eyes flashed towards Itatchi.

"When Sasuke was five years old, our parents died." He breathed. I took a small glance at Sasuke and his eyes narrowed.

"I was around thirteen. The Uchiha family was in a small car, going to see fireworks on the fourth of July. Sasuke was home alone, for punishment for going into the Weepings, while our parents and I drove out into the beach."

Sasuke went into the Weepings?

"The weepings?" I asked.

"It's another term for the graves for the children and the brutally murdered." He admitted. "I suppose it should no longer be a secret to you, because I am sure you'd like to know where your father lies."

The grip around my cup tensed.

"Sasuke knows that they did not come home after that night. He was told, because of his young age that they were simply 'no longer coming back.' When my brother asked what that meant, I didn't want to break his heart, so I told him they packed up and left."

I heard Sasuke growl. He stood up and breathed in harshly.

"When my parents went out of the car to see the fireworks, I hopped foolishly into the drivers seat and started the engine. Our vehicle was near a cliff, the same cliff of Big Will, but farther down north. When I started the car, my parents came to save me from my falling death."

"Sadly," He sighed. "They were the ones taken instead."

At that moment it became silent. I could not hear Sasuke's heavy breathing.

"He lied!" I heard Sasuke yell, his eyes shooting daggers at his brother as if he was alive.

That time, I recall, was the scariest in my life. Watching Sasuke, so cool, calm and collected, become enraged. The real ferocity shone through Sasuke's eyes made me cower in fear.

"HE LIED!"

"Sasuke, calm down!" I yelled.

Itatchi heard me yelling, and narrowed his eyes. He stood up, and looked at me.

"Explain." He said, but Sasuke was throwing too much of a fit, I didn't remember what Itachi was saying.

"Itachi-san, it's hard to explain, but I can see Sasuke! He's alive."

"To think, that my parents left because of me…" "IT WAS YOUR FAULT!" he continued to yell at Itatchi.

"Sasuke!"

"Don't interfere!"

"He can't hear you!"

Sasuke tried to pick up a chair, but it did not work. He tried to throw a lamp, and the tea pot, but he was a ghost and no longer possessed human world qualities.

"Itahci, I'm sorry." I apologized.

"Let's talk this out." I said in a haste.

"Don't interfere!" Sasuke yelled again.

Sasuke picked up the chair again, and threw it across the kitchen. He missed Itatchi by mere centimeters, causing the wooden chair to fly into the fridge.

He was able to do it. Sasuke was able to throw a chair.

Itachi stared in the mess in utter confusion. In his vision, a chair was picked up, by some force, and thrown into the kitchen shattering into pieces. Another silence occurred.

"I know I am a liar, Sasuke." Itatchi said. "I know."

He breathed.

"I know I am a liar, and I hate it." "Nobody wants to be a liar." He began to bite his lower lip.

I released a breath, and watched Itatchi look down, his eyes lowering.

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke."

* * *

When Sasuke was alive, he and his brother had gotten along so well. He taught him morals or great value, and one time, as I waited for Sasuke to finish talking to his brother so we could play out into the park with our friends, I managed to listen to their conversation.

"Sasuke, you need to be more pleasant with your friends." Itatchi said, fixing his coat. "You are too harsh to Naruto."

"What's the point of pleasing people you don't even like?"

"Because, it becomes a terrible place out there to be on your own." I heard Itatchi say.

"Even if your friends are fake?"

Itatchi sadly nodded. "Even if your friends are fake."

"But I don't have fake friends."

"You will." Itatchi said quietly. "If you end up being so cruel, you will." Sasuke adjusted the buttons Itatchi had fixed for him and sighed.

"But you are lucky to have such good comrades in your life." Itatchi said. He ruffled his hair and watched him descend down the porch stairs.

"My friends like me the way I am!" He said. "And Naruto is just a big loser, so I can say whatever I want to say to him."

Sasuke lunged forward and Itatchi's arm wrapped around Sasuke's tiny frame, as the raven haired boy tripped along the stairs to his porch.

''Careful, Sasuke."


	5. 4 Seeing From Afar

Chapter 4- Seeing from afar.

It was near morning, and the sun had already started to appear. Not as quickly as it had on the summer solstice, but enough for the day to be longer than the night. It was a bit chillier outside; and I was wearing a pale orange sweater and shorts. It was so sad to realize that the days had already begun to get shorter, and the sun was preparing for the winter solstice.

I had remembered stepping outside that day (the second day of Sasuke's life on earth), and stepping out into the porch, to see Sasuke there leaning casually along the banister, looking into the distance.

"Hn." He growled as he recognized my presence.

"It seems your idea didn't work."

"Like yours will." he replied.

"I don't have to help you." I said in return. "Ungrateful bastard!"

Sasuke smirked and turned around to face me.

"Okay, teme, listen up." I said. "We're going to Sound Street."

Sasuke gave a daring look in his eyes;One that particularly said. "Hey dobe, you're a fricken idiot dobe. Baka. Baka,baka,baka..."

"You're an idiot." He said.

I shrugged my shoulders and raised my arms over my head.

"It is my turn to help you, so if you do want the help of the almighty Naruto Uzumaki, I guess you'll have to comply to my-HEY! Where are you going!?"

He stared to walk ahead. "Are you coming or not?"

I caught up to Sasuke, his cool demeanor showing, as he shoved his hands into his pockets, staring blankly into the road.

"Why the Sound?" He asks.

"We need to see someone." I reply. "Don't worry teme, my idea is flawless!" I tried to give him a slap on the back, but his dodged it quickly scowling.

We turned a corner into another street, slowly recognizing the slight change in our surroundings. In the Sound was where all of the circus people had lived in their 'normal days.' (when it was not circus season)

Low telephone wires and decaying logs hung low on the sides of the streets, parallel to the rotten trailer homes that lined the street.

Kabuto was the town's librarian who believed everything in his religion, in his Bible, was literal and symbolic. He prayed every second she got, and truly believed in the Church, in _his _church, and that missing his mass was a sin. He was holy, mind you, a soul who was devoted to God. A sweet thing really, to be intensely devoted e at his age. His greying hair was pulled behind him, and he wore small round glasses that hung onto his nose.

We had spotted Kabuto from afar, his nose stuck in a Bible. I noticed Sasuke tensed.

As he approached, he closed his Bible, held it close to his heart and said. "Ah! Amazing!"

Sasuke snorted, as I laughed.

I really did wish I was religious, it seemed like a wonderful life to live; one so full of assurance and safety.

"Naruto!" he called, spotting my blonde hair from afar.

I heard Sasuke growl, as his pace began to quicken towards us. "Crap." I muttered.

"We can't escape now." I said to Sasuke, looking straight at the charging Kabuto.

Kabuto called my name repeatedly, until he reached a reasonable distance to converse.

"Haven't been to mass yet I see." He lectured clutching the Bible.

"Oh no I have." I lied.

"Have you really?" He smiles nodding his head. Sasuke was desperately trying _not _to listen to anything he said, so decided to walk casually away. I said nothing. What was there to say? I can't excuse myself from God,(a god, the gods, whatever) because God, (a god, the gods, you know) don't excuse themselves from me. I felt guilty. Did I even believe in religion?

Truth was, I was not in belief of any religion, and I had the feeling that Kabuto was only practicing religion so he would not end up in hell.

"No, I haven't been to mass yet." I admitted.

The town's people stared at me, but I rolled my eyes. Their stares were quite too common for me anyway.

"So you changed your verdict?" He said questioning. "So you lied?"

I stuttered.

"Well." He said pushing up his glasses and fixing his grasp on the Bible. "You'll just have to spend that time in Purgatory." Kabuto said, fixing his monk like outfit.

I wanted to hurt him.

What if I believed in something else? Dose he even respect other people's religion?

I caught up to Sasuke's side, and he narrowed his eyes at me, somewhat _inspecting _me for any emotions that could be visibly shown on the surface.

"So how was religion class?" Sasuke asked.

I growled. Scientist found a bone headed shark swimming with its mother one time; when they tested the sharks DNA, it was exactly the same as its mother. The bone headed shark had just given a virgin birth.

So? Do you think that's special? Think again. Tons of komodo dragons and insects give virgin births all the time. And you know what? When a human gives virgin birth, it creates one of the largest leading religions of all time.

And you know what a komodo dragon thinks when It gives a virgin birth?

Today is Friday.

What am I going to do Saturday?

"Religion." Sasuke called it, "Is just an effective treatment for grief."

Isn't that a bit satanic sounding? I asked him.

"Just because he goes to his church doesn't mean he's totally holy. Like sitting in your garage doesn't make you a car."

I understood.

Bu hell, what did I know about religion?

I knew exactly where we were going. Sasuke did not, and I purposely did _not _tell him because I knew he would have left the second I said her name.

"It's Grandma Chiyo's." I said, ringing her doorbell.

Sasuke stiffed at her name and narrowed his eyes towards my own. I knew he disliked Chiyo because Itatchi and Chiyo had relations Sasuke disliked. He was not pleased when the old hag upset his brother. Chiyo opened the door, revealing her cloaked attire. She smiled at the sight of me; her face full of wrinkles. Her long black knitted sweater became lost under another long black shawl.

She crackled at my smile, and we laughed together. It was a while since I had last seen Grandma Chiyo, and our childhood memories did connect somehow with this woman.

I motioned for Sauske to follow us in. His appearance the same as always; calm and uncaring.

"So, what brings you here Naruto?" She asked.

Sasuke gave me a glance that said. "Yes Naruto. What the fuck _are _we doing here?"

"You're into that superstitious stuff, right grandma Chiyo?" I asked.

She sits down, and offers for myself to sit as well.

Pouring some tea she says ''Superstition?" She takes a drink.

"If thats what you call my abilities, then, yes, I am."

I explained to Chiyo the situation I was in as carefully as possible. I knew she was the only one in town who would believe in _any _of this nonsense, and her knowledge was key to bringing Sasuke back to life, or in this matter, wherever he truly belonged.

And truth was I wanted Sasuke back. I had to bring him back to life; back to Konoha.

"Sasuke?" Chiyo repeats.

I nodded.

"It was the boy who died yesterday." I said, reminding her of his departure from this world.

"He's not alive anymore," I said. "But I think he is."

"Itatchi's younger brother, I believe." She said smiling.

"What's your relation to him?" I asked casually.

"Friends," She said. "That is, until a quarrel that happened a few summers back."

"If you don't mind sharing, grandma Chiyo, what did happen to you two?" I asked.

She stayed silent for a while. I guess I would be quit too, and sad, if someone asks me about an old friend

''You know when you look into the streets of the sound? All you see is the decaying logs, and the rotten streets. Sometimes you even see the rotten people, and their rotten personalities. But that's looking at someone up close, you know what I mean?"

I nodded.

''But, up there in the skies, seeing things from God's view, or even out the window of a tall building, you see beauty. You see the streets lights and the houses and people take shape. They became one big beautiful mass. And that's how you see people, like in the skies, from a far. You don't get to see their flaws. You don't see the streaks for blood, or the vile smiles of people. You see everything differently. "

She sighed.

"But the closer you get to the rotting streets, the more ''ugly'' you see, and on very rare occasions, extremely rare, you see the slightest amount of beauty."

Sasuke listened in carefully.

"The closer I got to Itatchi, the uglier he saw me. And perhaps, the uglier I saw him. But he didn't like the voodoo psycho business that I did. Neither did Sasuke."

She shifted her gaze towards the black hair man, and they held each other's gazes for a while until Grandma Chiyo began to hack. It was strange, for that to happen. Sasuke was dead, but could Grandma Chyio _see _Sasuke?

Sasuke muttered.

"It's what I was called to. I didn't choose to live my life the way it was planned. I didn't choose to be a psycho hag living in the circus. It all just happened."

I drank some of Chiyo's tea and nodded my head.

''Woah Grandma Chiyo, that's really poetic. You should be a writer."

She laughed again. "Everyone's an inspiring writer these days; it's hard to tell the difference from one to the next."

"But I can tell, the friendship you Sasuke, Hyuga and that Haruno child have is something special. It's something that doesn't need to be seen from afar to be beautiful.

"They are special to me." I said. "And that's why I need your help getting Sasuke to where he belongs."

Grandma Chiyo shrugged her shoulders humbly and shook her head.

"The only reason I can think of is that Sasuke just simply doesn't want to leave."

I glanced at Sasuke, who was in turn staring intensely at Grandma Chiyo.

"But, he says he does want to leave." I reply.

Chiyo gets up and stretches her back.

"Sometimes we all simply just _think_ we want something. Sasuke could be wrong, and just wants to stay.'' "But don't be angry at Sasuke." She says.

"Everyone has the right to feel secure. If Sasuke isn't ready to leave, then so be it."

"It sounds really stupid to be talking like this." I said. "But it helps."

Chiyo nodded and smiles, mysteriously glancing at the spot Sasuke stood at.

I stood up and handed my tea to Chiyo. She takes it gently and looks down. I place and assuring hands on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Chiyo."

"For what?"

"For being you, unlike people who barley even know who they are now."

Sasuke and I sat on a patch of grass, under a large willow.

"How about we try the library next?" I add, sipping a can of coca cola.

"No.''

"It's more of a demand not a question teme."

"You asked it in a question form."

"Come on! The library will have tons of books on this creepy shit!''

''If Kabuto sees you borrowing those kinds of books, he'll crucify you.''

I laugh, taking another sip.

"What am I going to do with you?" I say. "School is staring in one week, and I can't spend my days entertaining a lost soul.''

Sasuke scowls.

I listen to the crickets chirp in the afternoon heat. He shifts his position and inhales deeply. We stare blankly into the main road, watching people cross. But the point was, we watched the people simply living. It was so different from the usual things that Sasuke and our group of friends did when we were together. We always _did, _and did not observe. We watched but didn't listen.

"It's my turn." Sasuke said after a while.

I took a large gulp of my soda and raised my eyes brows.

"And, what's your brilliant idea great Uchiha?" I snickered.

He moves his arm and runs slender fingers through his hair.

"We're going to confront Hinata and Sakura."

"Huh?" I asked confused. "Sakura-chan?!"

"Why them? They'll kill me!"

He scoffed and shook his head, eyeing a small girl lead a pack of her friends into the forest. I glanced at where he was looking, and smiled.

I never received an answer from Sasuke, but it was clear he just missed them.

Chapter 4- What Sasuke Needs

Surprisingly, I knew a great deal of Hinata, especially the family feud that happened between her and her cousin Neji. It was a few years ago, that I recall, when Neji our friend lost his father due to unforeseen circumstances- some of which I will not disclose, in order to respect Hinata.

Her hair was always brushed neatly, falling just atop her bellybutton. Her favorite clothes to wear, at the time of Sasuke's death, were dresses that fell at a respectable length to her knees.

She was the one in our group of friends that was the most humble; and it was a gimmie when Sasuke asked me who we should confront first.

His head was held low this time, but still looking as intimidating as he usually did.

"Teme, explain to me how this is going to work." I said

He did not raise his head.

When I came to knock on Hinata's door, her mother answered. She smiled at me, welcoming myself with a warm hug.

''It's been a while, Naruto.'' She says.

I let go of her grasp and she fixes a large sunhat that sat upon her head. "Nearly two years?"

"I think's it's time for us to be back together, as friends." I said.

''Please inform Hinata that her father and I are going for dinner, and will be picking up her sister along the way."

I nod and she pats my shoulder lightly.

I see Sasuke watch from beside me and he rolls his eyes.

''Must you insist on conversing with Hinata's mother, when there are more important things at stake?''

''Sasuke, retaining my friendship with Hinata is important.'' I reply.

I forged ahead, leaving Sasuke to follow behind. Hinata's mother mentioned that she was sitting in the back yard, and not in the house.

I caught my foot entering the backyard on one of Hinata's rose bushes and yelped.

"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" She says sharply.

I look up, and Hinata's back is facing towards us. She was facing a fenced lawn near a creek; listening, to all the sounds, sounds that sometimes we forget to hear , refuse to hear. She listened very well for a girl our age at the time. Most teenage girls enjoyed talking way too much for their own good, but not Hinata, she was an observer.

I untangled myself from her rose bush, giving Sasuke a glare when he smirked at me falling.

"Sorry for disturbing you, Hinata-chan."

She continued to face the creak, not bothering to face me.

"Your mother and father are going out, and picking your sister up along the way." I said. "I saw her in the front." I added, but Hinata did not flinch.

She once had a terrible stutter, which made everyone tease her. Though Hinata has grown, and her stuttering, especially around me, has long disappeared.

She shifted in her lawn chair, with her eyes closed. I came around her and sat beside her, motioning Sasuke to join us.

"Talk to her." He demanded. "And apologize."

I mouthed a 'for what' to Sasuke, but he continued to give myself a murderous glance, so I had agreed to it.

"Hinata, I know you're mad at me," I began. "You know, from yesterday."

She moved her head slightly up, but remained still the rest of the time.

"And I am sorry for myself, for Sasuke." I added "To even think that someone like him can even end up in hell."

She raised her chin listening.

"I meant to say," I began after a long silence. "If that I can feel his presence."

She spoke. "Can you see him?" She asks. "Or do you _think _you can see him?"

Sasuke glared at me, I felt his cool dark orbs burrowing into the side of my head. He gave an expression that confirmed it was okay for me to tell the truth.

I whispered yes, and begin to shift in my seat.

"What is he wearing?" She asks quite intrigued.

"It's a white dress shirt, with black suspenders and a bow tie." I explain.

I watch the corners of Hinata's mouth curl upward into a humble smile.

"Sometimes I hear you in the streets talking." She says. "So I guess you're talking to our Sassy cakes." She says.

I give a light laugh. "Do you know how the colors look like?" I ask.

He smile fades slightly, and her brows furrow.

"Of course I do." She says. "A-And I know the types of clothing too" She says. "I was not born blind, Naruto-_kun_." She adds for effect.

"When you were nine, and I was seven, I lost my vision then." She added. "I haven't _seen _my parents since."

"But you have parents," I said.

"And you do too." She replied.

I saw Sasuke flinch.

Everyone in town had parents, expect for Sasuke.

We didn't have abusive parents or unexpected deaths like Sasuke's. We were not tragically given burdens to carry, and better yet we were born perfectly normal. So why was life so hard for us?

"Having no dad is better than one that looks down upon you."

"Not true," I say. "Having a dad is better than none,"

"That's from y-your view." She said, a tone in her voice showing she was getting annoyed.

"I came here to talk about Sasuke, Hinata-chan." I said. "Not our fathers. I don't want think about things we can't change. And I am definitely _not _here to discuss views on deceased family members." I argue.

Hinata became silent, as if she was hurt.

"I came here to apologize."

"I-It doesn't seem like one." She stutters.

"Sorry." I apologize.

Hinata sighs and shakes her head slightly.

"Do you even know how he died?" She asks, opening her silver blind eyes to look peculiarly into the distance. I wondered if she could see vague images, or if she was, in fact, totally blind. How did Sasuke die? Did she see it?

I shook my head.

"Well?" she asks.

"No." I say loudly, remembering she was blind. Sasuke turns his head slightly as I glance over to him. He was slouched and shifting his gaze from one object to another.

"You're not the only unfortunate one." She said.

"Neither are you." I whisper. Forgetting Hinata was an incredibly good listener; she had picked up my mumbling and narrowed her brows.

"You don't even know," She said louder "how he died!"

She squints, with her eyes still narrowed; giving the lake a sour look.

I didn't even know how Sauske died, and this had only happened yesterday. "It wasn't your fault." I said comforting her.

She clenches her grasp on the chair she was sitting on.

"It was."

Sauske begins to move, telling me that he was going to wait near the front. I give him a sorry look that makes me feel guilty. But why was I the guilty one?

Well... then again, if I wasn't the guilty one, then who was?

"I was walking home, when Sauske pulled me over to hold his bag." She started to say. "When I asked him what was wrong, he did not reply. We were near Big Will, I think, and I was not sure on his intentions."

"Rushing water two feet deep is enough to completely sweep a human off balance." She said.

"Hinata-c" I was cut off by my own thoughts. I needed her to continue.

"Why was the water two feet deep that day?"

"And why did Sasuke climb Will?"

"_Why _did Sasuke fall off?"

"And how come I was blind? I could have done something, but I couldn't! So it's my fault Naruto-kun, that Sasuke is dead! I was able to be there for him when he didn't need me and yet, just the _one _time, just once, when his life depended on it, I couldn't save it."

"Please Hinata, don't blame yourself."

She stood up, her fists still clenched in sadness.

"So how come you get to see Sasuke's ghost?! You weren't even there when he died. The burden is not even on your shoulder. You two aren't even friends! That's why Naruto, I don't believe you. I'm the one who saw Sasuke when he died! I deserve to see him, and not you."

I held on to Hinata that day, just hugging her until tears fell from her eyes, and dried up. We stood, for fifteen minutes, just standing there with each other. And when I pulled away to look into those silver eyes, I saw fear. And I hated to see fear in her eyes. I _Hated it._

And I knew she saw the same thing in my own eyes; pity. I don't know why Hinata could not see Sasuke; she deserved every bit of it, as much as I did myself.

She saw him die, I never saw him live.

"What should we do for Sasuke then?" I asked her, still holding onto her arms.

"How about we give her a funeral?" She asked, turning her head to the sky. I did the same, looking up, noticing that it had begun to rain.

"Sasuke does not want to have a funeral." I said sighing.

She wiggles out of my grasp and crosses her arms, closing her eyes.

"It won't be a regular funeral," she said. "It will be like a memorial service. No formalities, loose clothing preferred."

I smiled; it was a pretty good idea.

"What flowers should we have?" I asked.

Hinata opens her eyes again, fluttering her eye lashes in excitement.

After Hinata and I had stopped crying, we had decided to visit an old friend. Sasuke had disappeared strangely, but I could still feel his presence in the town. I knew better than to chase him around, so I had decided to accompany Hinata to arrange Sasuke's funeral.

Hinata and I entered a small store famous in our small town. It brought happiness to even the saddest of all peoples. In front of the small shop, pots of flowers ranging from roses to rare lilies flooded in wonderful arrangements.

Hinata held onto my hand and squeezed nervously as we entered the store. It had been a while since we had lasted talked to our old friends. Two years to be exact.

When I pushed the glass door open, I saw crystal blue eyes begin to widen. Her lips parted, and she stroked her long blond hair down.

"Ino." Hinata whispered "It has been a long time, no?"

I watched as her chest heaved upward in shock, and she smiled sweetly.

Ino's hair was down; her smooth hair reaching down to her hip. Her bangs were pushed more towards the side; a change from the days of when we were children, when her hair was tied up regularly and bangs covered half her face.

"We're inviting you to Sasuke's funeral two days from now." I said, as we sat down on two stools.

"It's this Friday at 5:00 in the evening." Hinata added.

Her eyes lit up. "That's such a great idea!"

"We knew you'd like it," Hinata said. "But we need help giving out invitations and choosing the right flower arrangements."

Ino placed a finger to her temple and crooked her head to her left.

"There's a special order of Parijata flowers I've just received. No one has come to buy them because they're very unaware of it in this small part of town." She said.

"Ne, what are those?" I asked.

Ino sighed and pointed a nagging finger at me.

"They're celestial flowers. The name Parijat is a flower of god found in heaven where its beauty is said to dwell. Sometimes it comes to earth to enlighten the humans about its beauty."

I nodded my head.

"In other words, it's a small flower that's native to Asia and also known as the night blooming Jasmine." She said. "It's perfect for the night, when it seems like all the beauty is hidden by the darkness. The flower blooms and shows its beauty to the moon."

"It insists on the sun, but saves it beauty for the night. The sun never sees what it fathers." I said.

My mother's words echoed in my head.

Ino nodded. "Many flowers are like that." She says. "It's quite intriguing really."

"White flowers are preferred." Hinata adds.

We all stand up and help around the store. Hinata was sweeping up and Ino was arranging flowers. A few of our old friends came by, giving all of us a feel of nostalgia.

We invited Lee, the school jock, Tsunade, the town mayor, and even TenTen, whom we saw wandering the streets carrying groceries to the gathering. They all agreed to come, expect for Sakura. Hinata and I were going tomorrow to invite her. If she wanted to come, that was.


	6. 5 Springs Cold Arrival

**_I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH._**Seriously, thanks for reading, following, reviewing, ect. So... as a gift, here's an audio of Sasuke singing! SERIOUSLY. LIKE LISTENING TO THIS MAY COMPLETE YOUR LIFE.

**_TO HEAR SASUKE SING: post/17744789936/sasuke-uchiha-oh-my-gawd-ear-gasm-sasuke_**

READ READ REVIEW FOLLOW FAVORITE

**_Chapter 5- Springs Cold Arrival _**

* * *

Back when I was nine, I saw a man swinging a bat towards something on the ground.

He hit the thing a couple of times, but then it got up, and limped in between two homes that were really close together, and escaped. That's when I noticed it was a stray mutt that was being abused by the man. God, I thought, was that really happening in front of my eyes?

Is this what our world has come to?

That man then walked away like nothing happened and looked at me. Of course, as a kid, there was nothing I could do but give him a hard look.

He said. "Don't look at me like that, unless you're going to do something about it."

"Come on little boy, do something."

I remember running home to my mother, scared he would attack her and my friends, but he was caught by the police by beating another animal a day later. I don't know what happened to that man, but he was dumb for letting himself get caught.

Kami, but that man was right. I shouldn't have given him that look unless I was really going to do something about it. Why do I always think I can save the world? The only life I can save is my own.

Hell, I thought. I couldn't even save Sasuke.

* * *

When the sun was beginning to set, I found Sasuke looking up at Big Will. His was gaze cold and unfocused.

"Hey teme!" I said running to him.

"You were not at Hinata's when I last came to check." He said.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, you see, Hinata and I made up." He snorted at this. "And we invited people to your funeral."

He scowled. "I don't want a funeral."

"It's just a chance for people to say good-bye to you. That's all I promise!"

"And your ashes," I said "Is it okay for us to let them go?"

He turned his head and started walking away. It had already started raining, and my clothes were already soaked from walking in the rain previous with Hinata.

"Hn." Was all he said the walk home.

"You're not going to miss me are you Sasuke-chan?" I asked playfully.

He was balancing on cement blocks with his hands still shoved in his pockets.

"Who said I wasn't?" He replied.

To this I smiled.

"I'll miss you too." I said quietly.

And then Sasuke and I walked past the main road back to my home. It was that silent type of walking, comfortable walking. I guess it was kind of like being so comfortable with someone you don't need to talk so much.

Sasuke was in fact an emotional kid.

I knew that deep down; Sasuke would miss our friendship so badly that it could probably tear him inch by inch. I prayed to Kami that there were going to be more moments like this in heaven if that was where I was headed next.

* * *

"Hey Hinata." I said, as we walked into the new afternoon sun. "What do you think about the sky?" I asked her.

She held on to my arm, (because her walking stick was left at home) and kept silently walking for a few minutes.

"There's nothing else in the world that I would want than to see the sky again." She says. "Before I became blind, it was since birth that I had enjoyed all things astrological."

"So you're quite the scientist, aren't you?" I laughed.

She shakes her head blushing slightly. We had climbed over a log towards the Willows, and started to reach the clubhouse.

"Do you think she'll believe you?" She asks, facing the tree next to me.

I stopped, and allowed her to properly face me.

"No, I don't," I admit. "She's only difficult because it was obvious that she had a crush on Sauske when we were kids. She looks like she's been through a lot." I said, continuing. "And I don't think she got over the fact that he's gone."

Hinata feels the door knob of the small shack we arrived at. Sasuke was tagging along, his presence lingering beside me constantly, adding a grunt or two when I spoke.

When Hinata opened the door, an aroma of rotting wood filled our nostrils, and I was brought to see four lounging chairs sitting in a circle formations: all different colors and styles that were empty, collecting dust.

I told Sasuke that Hinata and I invited Sakura to the Willows. It was exciting, I guess, to talk to Sakura. I helped Hinata sit down, her chair a very purple one, with short wooden legs probably made of redwood. We had found all our chairs in the dump when we were kids. Sasuke sat down immediately too, and it seemed as if it was holding him quite fine. His chair was royal blue. Velvet, with a back that stretched long, like a kings throne.

Lastly I eyed Sakura's empty chair. I expected that she would pick pink for her chair, or green like her eyes. But I knew Sakura better than anyone else in the town.

* * *

A few months ago, Sakura had broken up with a boy she barely knew. In December, I think. The entire news spread like wild fire because of Ino who could not keep her mouth shut about anything.

I heard their last argument; it was in the cafeteria, and Ino was defending her. I watched in the sidelines, not so sure what to do. At the time, Sakura did not share such intimate things, yet alone talk much.

"Back off Kai."Ino said.

"Leave our affairs to us, Ino." He replied. His hair was a dark shade of brown, and his eyes were green like Sakuras. Everyone knew who he was; the school`s best football player, and three time champion in all things athletic. He was unstoppable. But the select few of Sakura`s friends knew he was just second to Saskue.

"Shut up Kai, just leave her alone."

"Ne Sakura, having other people fight your own battles?"

Sakura stood up from her chair and eyed Ino to sit down.

"Come on babe, I'm just joking. I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday, I'll make it up to you."

"Leave Ka." Sakura said.

We were all sitting in the same table, and Sasuke looked as if he had enough.

"You don't even know her favorite color." Kiba said flinging his fork towards him.

"Pink" He said smiling.

Sakura sat back down and smirked. She shook her head and laughed sarcastically.

"Wrong."

"It's not pink," Ino said. "Or green for that matter."

She didn't like emerald green, or pink. Her favorite color was yellow. And not pale yellow, it was bright, blinding yellow, like the sun.

She didn't like the spring, but she loved cherry blossoms.

* * *

Her chair was a bright yellow floral one, with royal arm rests and small mahogany feet with careful designs engraved.

"I remember this." Hinata says feeling the chair. I brushed the faint memory aside and glanced around.

"I wonder if the record player is still here." I said with eagerness.

I open a small closet door and searched. There was a small box, with records in them. I smile happily bringing the box outside to sit on a small glass table beside Hinata.

"Jazz?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No," She said. "Mozart."

We continue to switch the records one after the other, from classical to modern rock, and simply listened. I felt happy for us; that Hinata and I became friends again. I thought about when Sasuke would leave. And that Sakura, Hinata and I would still be friends. Perhaps we would add Kiba and Shikamaru to the group too. I was definitely thinking about inviting Sai, but I had to think it through. Sai was like a second Saskuee. And I did not really want him there because having him there was like having a plastic doll to replace a dead baby.

But I decided that I would give him a chance. He was a bit blunt, but I liked it when he made jokes about Kiba. It was just so funny.

"Naruto." Hinata speaks. "Please tell me, if you can really see Sasuke." She says.

"Well, yea." I reply sitting shifting in my own chair.

"No, I mean… "She drifted off. "How?"

I chuckle and give her a big sigh.

"Well, at least you finally asked." I said "It's just like looking at a regular person, but… more translucent than one."

"So no floating feet, hovering above the ground?" She laughs. "And he has no ghost tale?"

I chuckle sweetly.

Sasuke looks at me, and I almost saw a bit of envy flaring from his eyes. Of course he was envious; he had every right to be. He was going to miss the greatest thing that has happened to our friendship with our group of friends in two years; we would reunite.

Hinata continues to hum, ignoring my mumbles. Sasuke stood up and stands up in the middle of the room, looking slightly dumbfounded. He looks as if he is ready to expect someone come through the wooden doors any minute.

"Naurto?" I hear a voice call. I opened my eyes to see that it wasn't Hinata that called my name, it was Sakura.

I knew Sakura had feelings for Sasuke, and in our younger days, I envied that. She was always swooning over him along with Ino, until Sakura's brother got fell into a terrible flu. No, her parents were not abusive or died in a tragic car accident, but having someone sick was very rare in our small and healthy part of town. But Sakura loved her brother very much. He was born with a light shade of honey hair, and a pair of dark green eyes, that was equally as brilliant as Sakura's.

But he was born with defects. Sakura's mother had taken an early dose of a birth control pill, and drank a lot in her years. Sakura was the last child of a family of four (usual in this time in the country side), and had her older brother in her early days. Kayato died when he was twenty, and Sakura was still very young to understand it.

I guess at the time so was I, because many of the kids at school made fun of him too.

She wasn't the same sweet cherry blossom since.

"Hello Hinata." She greeted.

"Why have you called me back here Naruto-_kun." _She emphasized.

Sasuke glared at Sakura hard, his arms were folded across his chest, and he was looking at her with an emotion I did not understand. Their relationship was a rather rocky one, but I suspected once, that Sasuke perhaps wanted to be more than friends with her.

The playing on the record continued.

I spoke over it, gulping down. I did fear Sakura after all; she was a very strong person.

"Well, you see," I began. "Hinata and I are having a gathering for Sasuke,"

Hinata out stretched her arm holding a card. It was not in the direction of Sakura, but she was trying to point to where she heard her voice.

"It is Friday, at 5pm." She said as Sakura took the invitation.

"And we're inviting all of Konoha 12 and some of Sasuke's other friends to come."

Saukra glared at me. Something told me she wanted to know more.

"And I'm sorry for hitting you that day, Sakura-chan,"I spoke out. "For disrespecting Sasuke's soul in front of you; it was wrong."

A tight silence filled the air, and for a few moments of awkward silence, Sakura spoke.

"I don't believe you." She says, her emerald eyes glaring into my own. I looked at Hinata, who was pursing her lips so tightly the ends of her mouth became yellow. I bit my lip and stared at Sakura.

"I believe her." Hinata says standing up. Her glance at Sakura did not meet her eyes, but she was facing the right way.

The music on the record stopped, as the needle ate away at all the rings in the record. The expanse was quiet suddenly and I had a feeling the silence only made things far worse.

"I know this is difficult for you Saukra-chan, but you have to realize that there are other people who are hurting as well. We all have a bit of sadness in our hearts: they might not be the same, but its there." I said, trying to sooth her anger.

She clenched her fist.

"I may not be the protagonist in this episode," she said "But just because I've been through a lot doesn't mean I don't care." She said unclenching her fist. "I do care, about Sasuke, but not in this sill childish way."

"And I don't believe in ghosts." She said finally, crossing her arms.

Hinata narrowed her eyes, finally meeting Sakura's. "Sasuke, is not a ghost." She said angrily. "And I know you don't want to believe spirits exists with us because you're just jealous that we can feel him here, and you can't!"

Sakura in turn narrowed her eyes. She straightened her back.

"You know nothing about Sasuke." Sakura said roughly to Hinata.

"You just want to act like suffering is on your side, and you are used to it. You want to act tough, when you're not." I listened as Hinata spoke with such ease. "It doesn't matter how much pain you go through. Sure getting over it may be easier than the first, but it doesn't mean you don't feel anything."

Sakura took a deep breath. "That's not true!" She said shaking.

"You don't know how many times I've felt like I'm the useless one here!" Sakura argued.

"You're not useless, just there." I said. "But we're not saying that your sadness has nothing to do with who you are!"

"Then what are you saying?" She says nearly on the verge of exploding into another fit of rage.

"This is just a part of life. Haven't you realized that we are made up of these small insignificant sad moments? There's no need to cry over such small things like this, who will remember? In the end we all forget. I refuse to remise about Sasuke, he is gone and there is nothing we can do about it now!"

I place a comforting hand on Sakuras shoulder; I looked at her because she seemed as if she was ready to cry.

"It doesn't matter if anyone _remembers _Sasuke, what matters are the things that we do. And all that really matters, "I say with a pause, "Is that we're happy."

"I guess what I'm trying to say," I stop for a moment "Is that people who act like they been through lot, act like they don't get hurt at all.

It became silent again, until Sakura spoke once more.

"Why can't you just accept Sasukes death?" She asks with a calmer tone.

Hinata speaks this time. "Accepting something and hiding away from it, are two totally different things.

I watch as Sasuke nods, agreeing to this.

"Are you coming tomorrow, Sakura-chan?" I ask, after a brief silence.

Sakura moves towards the record player and restarts the music again, playing a very strong song. She looked at Hinata confidently. I stare at her until Hinata sits back down and closes her eyes.

"You don't have to attend." She says coldly.

"_She didn't need to attend." _I told myself.

I help Hinata up, as we start to head for the door. Just as we were about to leave, I watched as Sasuke doesn't follow. He gave me a look that I understood. He wanted to follow Sakura this time, and that was fine with me. Hinata and I needed to meet up with Ino to prepare tomorrow's celebration.

After I had departed from a meeting with Ino and Hinata, I headed on my way home to be greeted with Sasuke. He told me what Sakura said in the clubhouse when they were alone. It wasn't so romantic than I thought it would be.

Sakura ended up crying in front of him; pushing her entire body against the door, and placing a hand over her eyes, as if she could push the tears away. She was always the crying type, because compared to Hinata, Sasuke and I, she always told herself she was the weak link. And many people in whom I told this story to have disliked Sakura for her sensitivity and weakness. She was, as I remembered, the one who could not handle anything that had come her way; and was in need of protection twenty four seven.

But it was totally fine with me. Sakura made bad decisions and sometimes told lies that hurt my feelings. And as I thought of Sakura more, she didn't make these mistakes because of her selfishness, it was made for others. I guess a person should be judged on their intentions instead.

But if only we could judge people by their intentions, maybe the world would be a better place.


	7. 6 The Day

__EEEK. first reviewer. Thanks! who ever you are! I love you. And you only! well... I guess I love my followers too, and the people who Favorited my story... nothing much to say about this chapter. Except we're adding characters. It really is a story about group friendships and stuff.

_**Anyway**_please check out my new story, it's called Prehistoric Whales. It's a romance story for the pair Sasuke and Sakura, with Naruto ofcourse in it. It's also written in a diary form but seriously all the grammar is correct. (I CANT STAND BAD GRAMMAR)

If anyone has read perks of being a wildflower, the style is similar to that. It's about 4,000 words, but I really love it. I wrote it today (thats why it took so long to update) and personally, I like it. Maybe a bit better than this. This story was written previous, so my writting style has changed alot.

**_Chapter 6- The Day_**

* * *

It was the day of Sasuke's funeral, and I remember sitting with Hinata on a small wooden bench we managed to get from the village dump. Asuma and Kureni, the villager's junior teachers had helped to fish out old furniture from people's homes to sit on. We did not get much, but we figured that six benches, all with different designs would do fine. The ceremony was held in front of Big Will, near Sasuke's home. The seats were all facing the cliff in where Sasuke had fallen off and died.

"I believe you." Hinata says as we sit on the bench in front of the podium. The benches had silky white ribbons attached to them, and a large white tapestry to cover the podium where the preacher would speak.

"Believe what?" I asked.

"That Sasuke is here." She said proudly.

"I'm proud." I said with a fake smile. I noted that there was a hint of sarcasm and anger in my voice, and Hinata caught it.

"Stop being an eccedententiast." Hinata says drawing circle in the ground with her walking stick.

I laughed confused, "What?"

"It means someone who fakes a smile."

"I fake smiles?"

"How could a person smile so much?"

"How would you know when I smile?"

"Fake smiles, are in your voice too."

I give her a big sigh and bring my arms up around her and said. "Well you're some of an eccedententiast yourself, aren't you?"

She blushed when I touched her then quickly brushed my sign of affection aside when I seemed to notice.

"Really?" She asked. "How so?"

"Well, I guess it's the same thing, when you're faking a smile, and faking the fact that you believe me." I continued. "You don't honestly believe Sasuke's ghost came to me? You're just trying to make me happy."

"You're talking about Sasuke again, aren't you?" she says licking her lips.

I give her a grunt of confrontation. "You don't believe me, don't you Hinata-chan?"

"I guess we're all an eccedententiast, in some way."

_Ring Ring_

The sound of light metal bells echoed in the atmosphere, signaling all the guests to silence. The service began around five thirty, and the sun was no longer at its highest point; it was late August now, and the days were getting shorter than they had first been on the summer solstice.

Tsunade and Kakashi were among the latest guests to arrive, and I noted as the town's highest superiors, they were never on time for anything. Tsunade wore a very loose poncho, and let her golden hair flow down in large curls. Kakashi, and many other male guests, decided to wear simple white dress shirts with bow ties.

"Although Sasuke was something of a non-believer…" Kabuto began first. "I appreciated his constructive questioning to our religion." He said. His speech continued on about "Sasuke's contribution to the religion", but both Hinata and I knew that Sasuke was somewhat of an atheist.

Hinata had chosen to wear a heart shaped dress in white, with a bow that tied her raven hair half way through.

Ino the town florist, Kiba and Shino who were pet store owners, Shikamaru the librarian's son, Tsunade the mayor, the teachers, Lee, Garaa, Itatchi, and even No Hands Man with grandma Chiyo showed up. I looked at all the faces of what everyone had grown up to be, and as I continued to analyze everyone, I almost forgot that Sakura was not there.

_Sakura. _She didn't need to come.

And as I thought about it through the pointless speeches people made of Sasuke (and that they didn't really know him that well) was that it didn't really matter if she came or not.

People who came, even if Sasuke hated them, mattered.

Hinata, Itatchi, and Grandma Chiyo mattered.

About an hour passed and people were almost donw saying their last words to Sasuke. I front of the podium was the small jar that Sasuke's created remain were in. People cryied looking at it and sometimes even laughed at it when they remember the good times with Sasuke. It might seem a bit silly to you, but I don't think it's silly at all. I guess what people wanted to do was pretend that Sasuke was in the jar, and he was listening. There's no wrong in that, right?

What really made me laugh was when Lee shared a story about Sasuke and himself comparing penis sizes. I guess it's guy thing to show each other those things, but it was sure funny when Lee said Sasuke called his an acorn.

"I had a childhood crush on Sasuke," Ino said as she began.

I rememberd her speech was rather lengthy. She sure talked a lot, and that's why I prefered Hinata in our group of friends, ebcaseu she didn't talk as much.

"And forehead wouldn't stop getting in the way!" She rumbled. "But Sasuke was a good friend, he kept his secrets and some of mine that I had told him," She rambled on.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of Ino, Itatchi was the last to make his speech.

I wanted to see Sauske's face when people made such nice comments about him, but I didn't spot that bastard anywhere. Where else would he be, other than his own funeral?"

I guess Hinata sensed my quieiness when I felt her hand grip mine.

"I need to find Sasuke." I whispered.

Itatchi was eyeing me, and I was rather loud, so I guess he was waiting for me to say something. So I stood up bravley and said,

"Hinata and I need to go find Sas-" Hinata squeezed my hand. "Go somewhere."

It became silent. "We'll be back."

And as we departed, I felt Itatchi's cold glare cut me in the back. He didn't sart speaking until we were out of hearing range, and I hoped he didn't say anything bad about us because we were Sasuke's best friends.

"Sasuke!" Hinata shouts holding a long branch as her guide.

"Sasuke!" I yell.

At the time I didn't really think about Hinata. She was pratically just playing along, since she didn't believe in his ghost. But she was there helping me look for him, and I was glad.

"Sasuke-teme,you're missing your won celebration!" I yell.

I was pretty angry at Sasuke. It was supposed to be a night in wich all of Konaha 12 were to get together and have a nostalgic party. I wanted things to be like the old times, and hopefully they could still be like that after the party.

"Hinata, can you please stop hanging on to me!" I yell.

"What?" She screams in surprize stopping.

We were searching in the Willows, a common place where I found Sasuke wondering during the past few days.

"Stop holding on to me so tightly, I'm trying to find Sasuke!" I said.

I think Hinata was very angry at me, because she just stood perfectly still and narrowed her eyes at me.

"I'm blind Naruto!"

"I know!"

I let go of Hinata's hand and stared looking all over the place for Sasuke. Hinata knew to follow my voice, but occasionally I had to pull her closer to me so she wouldn't get lost.

_Huff huff huff huff_

It was all I heard coming out from my mouth other than "Sauske-teme" and 'get over here Hinata!". I felt numb, and my chest was heaving alittle to much than normal. There was scratches along my legs, but that didn't really matter to me at the time. Because it was near September the air was getting colder, ad the sun had already started to set.

"Hinata here!" I said pulling her closer.

I yelled out Sasuke a couple more times, untill I grew almost our of breath.

It was such and adreniline feel to be searching for something that isn't even alive. We had covered the clubhouse, and decided it would be best to search the woods further.

I looked at Hinata and I almost felt bad for her; little white flip-flops were being town into shreds because of the twigs and bracnhes she kept tripping on.

"Sasuke please!" I said. "We didn't even say goodbye!"

Hinata was sreaming to, and I think at somepoint I made a very bad mistake. I forgot to pull Hinata closer to mem when she strayed away. She fell over a couple times, at least that's what she told me.

"Sasuke!" She yelled.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke.

_Sasuke…_

And I was there by myself when I realized Hinata was not following me.

Luckily I ran back, and just in time. I saw Sakura her hands drapped around herself in a long heart shaped dress that came up to her knees. It was a dull shade of white, and she had a crown of flowers woven on top of her long pink locks.

"Sakura." I said, breathing heavily.

She was helping Hinata, who fell on the ground, and tears were on her face.

"Naruto, what the hell is going on here?" She asks.

I mumbled. "Searching."

Hinata stood up straight and took a deep breath. "We're looking for sasuke." She said.

I tensed, untill I saw Sakura's face turn soft.

I think my face was all red and sweaty from runnig so much that Sakura almost felt bad for me. Can you believe it? She came closer and place her hand on my shoulder, while holding Hinata's hand.

"We'll look for him, together." She says smiling.

And at the time, that smile was enough for me to keep going. I did like Sakura a whole lot when we were younger, but that disappeared and I stopped having feelings for her. A few years ago.

Sakura appologized right after, and I think that I was a whole lot happier instead of frustrated when I was looking for Sasuke. Hinata and Sakura, my two best friends by my side; and that's all i really need.

"He must be inside the Willows." She says, as we statr to run.

"No, I checked there, cover the west side of the forest instead" I said.

Hinata didn't say much the rest of the way, and I was really sorry about that. I guess that's what happens to people who are so nice, they get stepped on, and I never figured id do the stepping.

I think Hinata was mad at Sakura too, because I heard them fighting when the sun had completley disaperd from the sky. It was atleast fourtyfive minutes into the search and Hinata was getting impatient being dragged around so much.

"Sasuke!" Hinata cried.

"Hurry up Hinata we need to find him!"

"I'm doing what I c-can!"

"We need to get Sasukeback soon!"

I also think Sakura was in a time of pure hysteria, because she was screaming so loud and crying so much it made me scared.

"Sakura stop this!" Hinata says squeezing her forearm.

She lets go when Sakura stands still, and leans against a large birch tree.

"We should stop this." Hinata said huffing. Sakuras boney arms fell to her sides.

"Why would you say that?" She asked, shaking.

"Why would you care?" Hinata replied, opening her blind eyes. "You didn't even come to Sasuke's funeral, yet alone cared about Sasuke's death."

"Shut up!" Was Sakura's bland retort to Hinata. She moves closer to Hinata with desperate eyes.

"I just," She hesitates. "Can't we just pretend like he's alive? It'll make me happy!" She said.

Hinata closes her eyes again and crosses her arms. She was tierd.

Both Hinata and Sakura kept screaming out Sasuke's name. It had been atleast an hours time, and the guests at Sasukes celebration had probably finsihed eating, and it was almost time to pack up and go home.

Maybe they thought that if they ran fast enough, yelled loud enough, or perhaps believed rnough, Sasuke would magically appear before their eyes. But they knew better than to believe that the world would spare them such happiness. It was a horible place out there, and if there was happiness somewhere in the world, people would crush it, and leave us with nothing.

Hinata fell over again and Sakura and I had the last straw.

"Kuso! Why do you have to be so blind?" I scream.

Hinata growls and grabs onto Sakura's arm. She helped her up, and continued to tug her along.

She pulled Sakura back with all her strength and managed to pull me to her as well. We come to a haulting stop.

"Why do you care about Sasuke?" Hinata says screaming at Sakura. We were all still, and our breths panting in different times. "It's not like both of us can see Sasuke!" She yelled.

"I know he's here!" Sakura yelled back. She fights with Hinata's hold, but she manged to keep her in place.

"Now you believe?"

"Yes!"

"Why? You didn't even think death was important you hypocrite!"

Sakura and I shoved past Hinata.

"Do you think I care?" Sakura says.

By then I remembered that I was crying a whole lot, and so was Sakura, so I didn't really know what was happenig: except for the fact that everything I did was in suh a blur it felt as if I was on drugs or something.

"Let me find him!" Sakura said, as Hinata held her again, holding tighter this time, clenching her teeth. We stood like that for a few seconds until I stopped crying a bit and took a hold of Sakuras other arm lightly.

"Sakura please, stop." Hinata said.

Hinata grabbed my hand, and it felt pretty good because I calmed down a whole lot.

"Let's go back." I said to them. "Maybe, he's just there waiting for us."


	8. 7 blink and you'll miss

**_last chapter :'(_**but don't fret, theres going to an epilogue soon. I want to thank you for reading my entire story, and i reqqlly am glad you took the time to read it. Like I said before, my writting style has changed alot, and i have just written the epilouge a few weeks ago. It's honestly sooooooo good. you have to read the epilouge. And im not just saying that because i want reviews. Stick around! (and read prehistoric whales if you're a sakusasu fan!)

**_Chapter 7- Blink and you'll miss_**

* * *

Hinata's face became soft, and I smiled at her, even if she couldn't see it. She was always the peace maker between us, and I was sure sorry for making her see us like that.

We had taken the exit to the Willows that was facing Big Will. When we looked out into the distance, we realized just how dark it had really become, and how flat and empty the plains of the Leaf were. When we reached the end of the forest something very beautiful happened. I knew Sakura thought it eas beautiful too because as soon as we had seen it, we had started to run towards it.

In the night sky, there was a small spray of lanterns that was coming from the base of Big Will, where the party was happening. The moon was just above Hinata's head as we ran through the field. It was lovley.

* * *

"Itatchi!" I screamed as we apporached Big Will. Everyone was still present in the celebration, and were lighting laterns to the sky as we stared in awe.

"Did you find Sasuke yet, Naruto?" He asked holding him a lantern.

I shook my head and almost started crying again. Not the bad kind, but the good type.

"No, I didn't." I said taking the lit lantern in my hand. "But hopefully Sasuke will be happy when he see's thees lanterns."

Itatchi ruffled my hair, and walked away. He was a great big brother to Sasuke.

Ino handed us more lanterns and her face was glowing as she held it there for us. Grandma Chiyo joined us and held out her lantern, as we all pushed them into the sky to enjoy the wonderful sight of lights embracing the sky.

"You three are finally here!" I heard Kiba yell. He was lighting up some different shapes of lanterns and his dog Akamaru barked happily at us.

"He always wanted lanterns." Itatchi said lighting up another one.

I looked up and all I saw was light in the dark, and it was wonderful. I don't have any other better words to describe the beauty in the skies, so I will still with wonderful and beautiful.

Sakura let go of Hinata's hand and took a yellow one in her hands. It made her skin glow and she looked very peacful. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, like see was making a wish.

It was incredibly breath taking, and I had never seen anything like it before.

"Let's fill the entire sky with them!" I heard a small boy say. Konohamaru, I think was his name. He was a very excited boy.

I watched Sakura, and she stopped and stared admiringly at the pink and yellow tints of lights cascading up in the air. She held her breath and smiled, forgetting about the troubles that had occoured to her. Forgetting about all the horiblethat offered her. Of course life was short, and theworld would crush even the tiniest ray of light if it found it. But during that moment, it just didn't matter.

She thought long and hard, watching the lights in the air slowly fill the night sky.

"For Sasuke!" Lee shouts.

Everyone liked the idea and cheered. We pulled each other in a circle and counted to three.

_One_

_Two_

_Three…_

And in a circle of lanterns, floated a ring of lights. It was spectacular. After that no one spoke for while, and I began to think how many friends Sasuke had even if he was so creul to them. Some said Sasuke didn't deserve friends, and that was why had had very few; but that didn't really matter. All that did was that I was happy, So very happy. It was perfect.

* * *

_Help!_

There was a terrifying screech that reached my ears. It was as if all the beauty I saw looking up in the sky was torn away. It was Hinata, screaming for the mercy of her life. I turned my head towards the scream, leaving the wonderful sight of the sky. Who knew something so innocent and lovley could be crushed by the savages of the creul world.

I screamed myself; making sure I was not part of some illusion. But I heard that voice in my own ears, and I was assured that it was no horrid dream.

Hinatas white dress was being englufed in a fire, bruning the skin on her legs so deep I swear I saw her bones. It crawled fast, moving up her thy cathing on to her arm.

"Someone put it out!" Ino yells.

Kakashi and Kureni had started hitting her with their jackets, and I guess Hinata got very confused because she didn't know why people where hitting her for, and for what reason.

"Hinata!" Someone yelled, but I am not concentrating on that voice, I was concentrating on Hinata.

I ran as fast as I could to her, but she was too deaf to hear me because of her own screams. She was yelling rather loudly, and her throat was gasping for air after the interval of each yell. She began thrashing and moving her limbs, as if she could shake the fire off. They were flying in different directions, until they had stopped moving when her legs made an instnctual move; to jump into the water in the cliff.

I stared wide-eyed at Hinatas diving body. Hinata was dying, and every scream Sakura and Itatchi made seemed like it was being told amillion times.

_Shut up!_

I ran up to the cliff where she had fallen in, watching and waiting of her head to pop up, but it never did.

I guess the water was the same from the time Sasuke died, because Hinata died on that day of the same injuries of Sasuke. Two feet deep, is enough water to sweep a person off their feet, and twenty feet high is enough for a human skull to crash into bedrock and die.

Each passing second I watched, pain began to consume inside me, until the only thing I could do was recognize it, breath it, and embrace it; Hinata was dead.

A lot of people were screaming, and Hinata's parents and sister were screaming the loudest. They were very sad, and haven't talked to me since the incident. I didn't want to believe Hinata was dead. It was really hard to believe it. Iwas crying a lot, and so was Sakura because when I looked at her it seemed as if she was in her darkest pits of her reverie. I looked at Tsunade and she looke cold, drained and exhausted. Two kids in her town had died, and it was killing her.

"Please save my daughter! She could still be alive."

"How?" Someone argues in hysteria. "She's dead!"

"She might just be knocked out!" Another person argues.

"I'm going down!" Sakura yelled. I looked at her and it scared me because she looked really psycotic crying and panting like the way she did. "I'm going!"

She was so full of doubt, and yet full of assurance. What an oxymoron.

"No!" Kabuto yells. "If you go down, you'll die. That cliff is perfectly narrow, you can't climb down it!"

"You just don't want to save Hinata you snake!" Someone yelled.

He turned around to the voice and yelled back at the crowd. "That's not true!" He said.

I lokked into Kabuto's eyes, and really looked into them, and saw he was telling the truth.

Sakura stares into the water with her emerald eyes bruing into the water, I looked up, and noticed that most of the lanterns in the sky had burned out, and their ashes were waiting for us in a pile further up in the Willows. It was so ironic, how like the days, and night, from the seasons to the lanterns in the sky was fading faster than I anticipated.

Where was Sasuke?

I bite my lip in regret, trying to blink away the rest of the tears in my eyes, but they were already flowing.

"Hinata, can you hear us?" Kiba yelled.

That was when I rememebered that living in my own blissful ignorance was better than this emotional façade.

People's screaming was starting to fade. Itatchi's face was so full of sadness, yet tears did not flow. He was silent, aware. He was trying to heal his own soul by hiding away the pain, although I knew that did not do him any good, and Sakura showed it to me. I looekd up in the stars, finally getting to have some quiet. Everyone had started to become silent, although Sakuras physchotic creis were quite distracting. I remembered Asuma, the town mayor killed in battle, my godfather, and my father. And when I look up into the universe, I wish I saw their smiling faces. But, truth was I didn't.

Through the nostalgia, the pain, the tears, the breaking then repairing of bonds, I still don't feel any better about death. It was just like a path of a star; born from a nebula like the sun, and takes nearly billions of years to collapse and falter. A wonderful feat really-the birth of stars-and a great shame they die out like our lives in happiness. It appears, forms, reacts and leaves in a sucking bang; a supernova. But it was then that I realized that there was nothing to fear about death- or the darkness, so I supposed there was something that I learnt.

Sasuke was born in the dark; where his cold shallow past had laid, and it was okay for him to be there. He would have my mothers night blooming cereus and our night flowering parijaat. He would have the moon on his side, the stars in the night and an entire canvas of black. After all, the light of the stars can't be seen without the darkness. And I pictured Sasuke standing ontop on the world looking down at the universe seeing beauty; a smile would cross his face becasuse it didn't matter how close Sasuke would get to us, he would still see the same thing. He would think of Grandma Chiyo and I, when she told us this. He'd think of Sakura, in whom loved him, and his parents who died before they could watch him grow up. He would also think of Ino, and her parijaat flowers, blooming to his touch. I guess that was the answer to why Sasuke had to go so soon; things need to go away in order for others to bloom.

It was time for Sasuke to say good-bye.

A person's goodbye was like a stars death.

A goodbye. Ha, what's so good about saying bye?

And it was so shameful the people I loved the most had to leave so soon; How the stars had to disappear into the father of the sunlight as Hinata and Sasuke's soul faded like the cereus flower- like the astrological process and all.


	9. 9 the beginning

_**Epilogue- The beginning**_

* * *

Dear Sasuke and Hinata,

Sometimes I buy empty notebooks and journals and carry them with me. I guess in hopes to be able to write something great; sadly it never really works out. And nearly five years later as a grown man, life is incredibly lonely. I wish you were here with Sakura and me. I really do.

I don't really know what to say in this letter, so I guess I should start out traditionally with "everything's fine, I hope you're doing well too." I haven't heard from Ino since you both died. Nor have I heard from Kiba, or Shikamaru, Sai, Lee or Ten Ten. The truth is, I can't even remember our group of friends from back in the days. It's pretty sad and almost makes me want to cry. I really do wish your deaths would bring us together as one big family, but I guess that's not the way it's going to turn out. Well, on the bright side, I bumped into Sakura here in the city just a few weeks ago. We still talk from time to time, and she mentioned going back to the Leaf. When I retire from my job here in the city I thought that maybe I would return, and run as town mayor, as I always wanted to do as a child.

They cut down Will and closed off the cliff with white fencing, from what I last heard. I don't know much about the Leaf anymore, since I moved out into the city with a business job offer. It's a great offer, really it is. Kakashi and Tsunade are doing well. They are getting older, but in the end everyone gets old. Kureni, your old teacher Hinata-can, is due to give birth soon. New life is just so fragile and wonderful, I can't wait to see her son when he is older.

I really want to cry right now. I miss you both, and it's so hard to write this letter to you because I really have no idea how to explain what I'm feeling. I guess I should end this letter before I get to emotional again. But before I go, I have to tell you the truth…everything is not "doing fine." Nor do I wish that you both are doing well without me. Is that selfish? I just want to be happy, but with you both. And I'm sorry; So very very _very _sorry for not being there to protect you two. I know I'm a clumsy idiot, I know. I know and I hate it!

I guess this isn't the best way to relieve grief for me, but my doctor is right, I do need to let it all out even if this stupid letter will not be read by anyone but me.

I'm sorry. Please wait for me, ne Sasuke, Hinata-chan?

Love,

Naruto


End file.
